Chapter 678: Buying Medicine

Chapter 678: Chapter 678: Buying Medicine

Li Xu looked at the students, who had been tormented to within an inch of their lives, and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He said to Gao Yuan, "Elder Gao, that dosage was way too high. How can today’s students compare to your generation? People back then were resilient and could endure hardship; they had strong constitutions. Today’s kids are pampered from a young age. They stay up all night and don’t exercise, so their bodies are extremely weak. If you’re giving them aconite based on the old standards, how could they possibly handle it?"

Gao Yuan nodded thoughtfully as he recorded the data. "Hmm... You’re right. It was indeed an oversight on my part. The individual variations are greater than I imagined. It seems the tolerance of modern people has indeed declined quite a bit."

He put down his pen, looked at the interns who were still reeling from the shock, and said seriously, "Alright, then. Let’s adjust the dosage for the next round. We’ll cut it in half and try again."

"What?"

When Li Lin and the others heard this, they felt like their world was collapsing.

’Try again?’

’Is he trying to kill us?’

If they hadn’t just been given the antidote and their legs weren’t still too weak to stand, they would have bolted without a second thought. They would’ve crawled out of this devil’s den if they had to.

Seeing the students’ faces turn pale, Li Xu smiled and tried to smooth things over. "Don’t be nervous. Elder Gao is just teasing you. You were just given the antidote, so your bodies are still weak. You’re deficient in both qi and blood. How could he possibly make you try again right now?

That would be fatal, wouldn’t it?

Besides, if your bodies aren’t in a stable state, the data from the test wouldn’t be accurate. Elder Gao is meticulous about his research."

Hearing this, Li Lin and the others let out a small sigh of relief and quickly looked toward Elder Gao.

Gao Yuan nodded. "Yes, Dean Li is right. It certainly won’t be today. Go home, get a good rest, and regain your strength. Be here tomorrow at nine a.m. sharp."

CRASH!

Li Lin felt as if the worldview he had just pieced back together had shattered all over again.

’Tomorrow?’

’What’s the difference between that and today?’

’This just means the sword hanging over our heads will fall a few hours later. The mental torment is even worse than the physical pain!’

Seeing their utterly hopeless expressions, Li Xu knew he had to offer them some kind of incentive, or they would likely be scared off for good.

His smile faded as he said, "I know you’re afraid.

However, as practitioners of Chinese medicine, you must sometimes have the courage of Shennong, who tasted a hundred herbs.

Only by tasting them yourselves, by personally experiencing the sensation of the medicines rising, falling, floating, and sinking within your bodies, by knowing when they take effect, when they become toxic, and what that toxicity is like—only then will you have the confidence to write prescriptions in the future. Only then can you be precise and targeted with your medication."

"This isn’t just about being responsible for the art of medicine; it’s about being responsible for your patients."

Seeing that the interns were still hesitant and resistant, Li Xu played his trump card. "How about this: if you cooperate with Elder Gao and complete these few rounds of drug testing, then for the rest of your internship, you can come directly to my consultation room to observe and act as my assistants."

"What?"

Li Lin’s eyes instantly lit up like lightbulbs.

’Observe?’

’Be his assistant?’

One had to understand that Li Xu’s reputation was legendary throughout Feng City, and even across the entire province’s Chinese medicine community!

Although the affiliated medical college had sent many interns this time, opportunities were scarce. Li Xu was also incredibly busy, only seeing patients two or three days a week.

The students assigned to study under him were an incredibly rare few—they had to be the top students in the entire school, and even then, it came down to luck.

’And now Li Xu was personally offering them the chance to observe, just for testing some medicine?’

’This was like a pie falling from the sky!’

’A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!’

Following Divine Physician Li, even if it was just to copy prescriptions and learn a trick or two, would be a golden ticket when it came to finding a job after graduation.

Instantly, the young men who had just felt like their world was ending suddenly found their backs no longer ached and their legs no longer felt weak. Even the thought of that pitch-black medicinal soup didn’t seem so bitter anymore.

’So what if it’s painful!’

’Elder Gao will be right there watching, and there’s an antidote. We definitely won’t die.’

’For the sake of our futures, it’s worth the risk!’

"Dean Li, we agree! We are willing to devote ourselves to medicine!"

Li Lin was the first to raise his hand, his declaration full of righteous conviction.

The other three also nodded vigorously.

Gao Yuan looked at the young men, who were suddenly fired up as if they’d been injected with adrenaline, and nodded in satisfaction. "Good. You are teachable. Go on back, and remember to record a detailed account of your body’s reactions today—the time and severity of the abdominal pain, the feeling of heart palpitations—and give it to me tomorrow."

"Yes."

As if granted a great pardon, the group left joyfully. Although their legs were still a bit weak, their steps were much lighter.

...

On a street in the old district of Lishan City, an inconspicuous sign hung: "Du’s TCM Clinic."

It was a small, ordinary clinic with a modest storefront and somewhat dated facilities.

Lately, the clinic’s doctor, Du Zhen, had been very worried.

Business was terrible.

These days, everyone lived a fast-paced life.

For minor ailments like colds and fevers, young people wanted a quick fix. They’d buy a couple of boxes of Western medicine from a pharmacy or get an IV drip at a community clinic, sleep it off, and be fine. Who would want to go through all the trouble of brewing herbal medicine?

As for major illnesses, people went to the big hospitals to see specialists; they didn’t trust a small clinic like his.

Therefore, Du Zhen’s main source of income now relied entirely on gynecology.

Gynecological issues were a persistent and difficult problem. For things like irregular menstruation, painful periods, abnormal bleeding, and discharge-related diseases, Western medicine often just prescribed hormones or anti-inflammatories. This treated the symptoms but not the root cause, leading to frequent relapses.

Many women, after being tormented by these conditions with no other recourse, would eventually think of seeking out Chinese medicine to rebalance their bodies and strengthen their constitutions.

But recently, even this last bastion of his practice was about to fall.

The reason was frustratingly simple: the medicinal materials were substandard.

Du Zhen was an honest and principled practitioner of Chinese medicine, and he wrote his prescriptions by the book.

However, the quality of medicinal materials on the market nowadays was wildly inconsistent. Fakes were rampant, with herbs being fumigated with sulfur, dyed to increase their weight, or harvested before they were mature enough...

Although he could identify some of the fraudulent products, he wasn’t a professional Pharmacist, after all, and would sometimes make mistakes.

Moreover, high-quality herbs were too expensive, and he couldn’t afford to stock them.

This led to a vicious cycle: poor materials meant unstable medicinal properties, so the treatments were sometimes effective and sometimes not. Patients who spent money without seeing results naturally stopped coming.

’Sigh... If this keeps up, I won’t even be able to pay next month’s rent. Am I really going to have to close down for good?’

Du Zhen sat in his deserted clinic, staring blankly at a group chat for his peers on his phone.

Suddenly, a message in the group caught his eye.

"Good news, everyone! Ding’s Medicinal Materials Company over in the next city, Feng City—the quality of their herbs is incredible. They’re potent, high-grade, and fairly priced. I just got a batch of their Danggui and Astragalus Root, and the aroma is just like the old herbs my grandfather’s generation used. I highly recommend them."

Someone immediately replied below: "Is that for real? You’re not just shilling for them, are you?"

The original poster replied, "I swear on my life, it’s not an ad. I’ve experienced it firsthand. You all know Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory, right? The one that makes the sobriety tea, True Martial Pills, and the shampoo. Well, they’ve now set up a dedicated medicinal materials company. They have a real expert overseeing quality control. Trust me, you should hurry and grab some before it’s all gone."